The house mentioned is the whole building of the Temple. A wall was round about the building. A wall is also mentioned in chapter xlii:20 which had a length of five hundred reeds and a breadth of five hundred reeds. The purpose of that wall is stated "to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common." This wall of five hundred is not identical with the wall in the beginning of the vision as mentioned in verse 5. The wall here surrounded the outer court; the wall in chapter xlii:20 surrounds the whole temple area. That is why the separation between the holy and the common is spoken of with that wall. The length of the great wall which enclosed all the Temple area is not given. But the man in the vision measures the breadth and the height, and as the reed is six cubits we have 2x6 (breadth six cubits and height six cubits), which gives us the number 12. So we meet the number 12, the symbol of divine government on the threshold of this vision. How prominent the number 12 is in the description of the heavenly Jerusalem in the last book of the Bible (Rev. xxi) is known to every reader of that book. The wall there has 12 gates and 12 foundations and is 12x12 cubits high, that is 144 cubits. All is perfection in that heavenly Jerusalem. Here in Ezekiel we have the description of the earthly sanctuary which will be in existence during the millennium. While in Revelation the one who measures is an angel with a golden reed, it is a man in Ezekiel and the cubit he uses (the length of the human forearm from the elbow to the tip of the little finger) has a handbreadth added. The eastern gate, the little chambers, the porch, etc.--everything is measured. The lesson is that even to the details everything is here by divine appointment. If the reed mentioned frequently is taken as six cubits we have in the measure the number 12 several times. Every little chamber (guard houses) was one reed long (six cubits) and six cubits broad--twice 6--12. That all this must have a deeper meaning we doubt not; and yet who can at this time give it to us in full? These instructions will be literally followed and carried out in the coming day of Israel's restoration.